Beetle pest found in B.C. bee hive

Jeff Lee, Vancouver Sun09.14.2015

Small hive beetle are seen in a hive among bees. Aethina tumida is native to South Africa, where it is regarded as a minor pest of African strains of honey bees. However, in the United States, where the beetle was first discovered in 1988, it has become a significant pest of non-Africanized strains of honey bees. Larvae of the small hive beetle are most damaging to honey bees. They tunnel through combs, eating honey and pollen and killing bee brood, ruining the combs.

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An invasive pest that has caused economic damage to commercial beekeepers in the U.S. has been discovered in a single hive in Abbotsford. An adult male small hive beetle, a sub-Saharan insect, was found in a honey bee colony close to the U.S. border.

As a result, the provincial apiculture division said Friday it will begin inspections next week of every hive within a five kilometre radius of the infected hive, and then expand the inspection area to other beekeepers along the border.

The Abbotsford discovery didn’t include a reproducing colony of the beetles, but comes as Ontario wrestles with six outbreaks of the pest in the Niagara region in the past two weeks. As a result, provincial bee inspectors across the country are considering a number of actions, possibly including national quarantine zones, to stop the spread of the pest.

The beetle was discovered in Florida in the mid-1990s and has since become a serious problem for southern U.S. beekeepers. The larvae stage of the beetle turns honey and wax into a gooey mess, and the beetles can reproduce quickly.

The Abbotsford discovery could end up harming B.C.’s multimillion-dollar blueberry industry, which depends upon honey bees for pollination. More than 30,000 hives from Alberta are used in B.C. every spring to bolster pollination services of local beekeepers. B.C. has only 43,000 registered hives, of which fewer than a third are made available for blueberry pollination.

“What I am much more worried about is that we will find it in more places and because it is a reportable pest, a quarantine zone will be established that will incorporate significant areas where blueberries are grown,” said Paul van Westendorp, B.C.’s provincial apiculturist. “Over the next five, six months, the ministry together with growers and beekeepers, are going to have to come up with some understanding how we are going to address this issue.”

Van Westendorp said the beetle, which has a range of about eight kilometres, likely flew across the border from Washington from hives that had been trucked in from California after the end of almond pollination in spring. Washington doesn’t have established infestations, as far as van Westendorp knows, but the beetles often hitch rides from southern operations and can be transported over long distances. He said it didn’t get transported to B.C. from Alberta with any of the truckloads of bees that were brought for spring pollination.

However, van Westendorp said he isn’t convinced the pest will become a major problem for B.C. beekeepers similar to another widespread insect, the varroa mite, which has become a dominant problem. Beetles need humidity and sandy soils in which to reproduce, he said.

“In this case, I view the beetle far more as a potentially serious nuisance on occasion, rather than as a pest that is going to be acting in the way varroa has,” van Westendorp said.

The varroa mite has become the biggest scourge of beekeepers worldwide, and is linked to the spread of viruses and infections. Some researchers believe it is a leading factor in the decline of healthy bees.

Van Westendorp said he’s asking all beekeepers in the Fraser Valley and Metro Vancouver to carefully inspect their hives.

Catherine Culley, the president of the B.C. Honey Producers Association, said her group has been worried about the potential for small hive beetle and recently formed a committee to assess the risks.

“Because soil and climate conditions in parts of B.C. are conducive to (the small hive beetle), this pest could change beekeeping practices and be very costly,” she said in a statement. “This would be one more challenge to beekeepers who are already fighting varroa mites and managing other bee diseases. Growers needing pollination, including our large blueberry sector, may also be affected if restrictions on movements of honey bees are needed to eradicate or control the spread” of beetles.

Medhat Nasr, the Alberta provincial apiculturist, said his department has already been inspecting for small hive beetles. As a result of B.C.’s discovery, Alberta will also step up inspections close to the U.S. border.

Reporter Jeff Lee is an executive member of the B.C. Honey Producers Association.

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Beetle pest found in B.C. bee hive

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